Railroad-cab coupling



UNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH MILLER, OF OLEAN, NEW YORK.

RAILROAD-CAR COUPLING.

Specification of Letters Patent No.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH MILLER, of Olean, in the county of Cattaraugus and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railroad-Car Couplings; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawing, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a horizontal longitudinal sec tion t-hrough the coupling. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the coupling and operating lever. y

Similar characters of reference in the several figures denote the same part.

The nature of my invention consists in combining coupling hooks which lock horizontally -by means of springs, with hinged boxes containing said hooks, and capable of dropping vertically as will be described, so that the coupling besides being self acting in connecting the cars, shall be capable of being disengaged at any time, and also capable of vertical adjustment as, and for the purpose hereafter to be set forth.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

In the drawing A A are the cases containing my coupling boxes; they resemble the ordinary coupling boxes of cars and are placed in the same position. They are open at bottom and press against the springs a a so as to yield readily on contact. The coupling boxes B B are held in the cases by the rods 7) and are capable of dropping vertically at their outer extremities and moving around said bars by their own weight; the rods c c sustaining the front of the boxes in any desired position. The rods c c are attached to levers d, held either in a fixed position by a hook e, or attached to a slide z', movable in the slot f, of the standard i, and secured in any desired position by a screw Z.

Within the boxes B B are the hooks C C', held by the pins m m passing through the top and bottom of the box, and movable about the same: the springs n n giving the hooks a tendency forward against the pins pp', so that the locking of the hooks will l always be insured. The descent of the box 11,940, dated November 14, 1854*- is limited by the staple g; a shoulder of which supports the case A A. The rear of each case is supported by a rod r, around which the springs a a', s s are coiled. These rods pass through the pieces PIJ', so that while the springs a a ease the cases A A when pressed upon, the springs s s press the rods 71 to their original position. This portion of the coupling I do not however claim.

The operation of my improved coupling is as follows. The coupling of two cars is performed by backing one car against the other, when by the action of the springs n fn/ the hooks C C will assume the position shown in Fig. 1. Then it is desired to uncouple, with the train in motion or at rest, the long arm of the lever CZ is released, and

the box B being no longer supported'by` the rod c will drop, turning around the rod Y), and carrying the hook C clear of the hook C. Should it be desired to couple cars whose platforms are of unequal distances from the ground, the box of the highest may be lowered into the proper positi'on for the connection of the hooks, and the lever ci secured by the screw l so that the box shall maintain that position. The uncoupling in that case will take place as above set forth.

This coupling which is simple in its con struction, is prompt and effective in its operation, the coupling and uncoupling being performed with unerring certainty-the latter at any moment and in any situation.` The adjustment of the hooks to cars of various heights which it may be desired to unite, is another and great advantage of the movable box.

I do not claim the hooks, as they have been used before, but

lVhat I claim as new and of my own in ventio-n, is-

The combination of the horizontally acting hook C with the vertically moving boX B, constructed and operated as hereinbefore set forth for the purposes specified.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name before two subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH MILLER. Witnesses: Y

GEO. PATTEN, SAML. GRUBB. 

